Game Thread: Warriors at Bulls, Friday

[bulls6pack]

Again, I know this belongs to someone else, Jack Finn I believe. As soon as he gets one up, just erase mine, and put the MemoraBULL Moment somewhere in the thread. Again, just wanted somewhere to talk about this game, and I apologize if I upset anyone again!


VS


United Center
Chicago, IL.
Date:1/18/08
Time: 8:30PM
TV: CSN-CHI,ESPN
RADIO:ESPN1000,SIRIUS

The Chicago Bulls (15-22) put their last 2 demoralizing defeats behind them with a 126-96 blowout over the Miami Heat on Wednesday night. It was a game that saw Chicago shoot a season best 57% from the floor, and a game in which four Bulls players reach the 20 point mark, a feat not accomplished since April of 2004. Ben Gordon led the way with 24 points, Joe Smith added 23, Luol Deng finished with 21, and Andres Nocioni poured in 20 off the bench. The Bulls finish their 4 game road trip with a 2-2 record. Chicago will now head home to face the Golden State Warriors (23-17) on Friday night. Golden State is coming off a 125-117 loss to the Pacers on Wednesday, a game in which the Warriors let a 17 point lead slip away. The Warriors are 6-4 in their last 10, and are 12-10 on the road this season. The Bulls will now look to keep the momentum going as they try to go for two in a row!
WARRIORS....BULLS....NEXT!!!!

MemoraBULL Moment:



During their annual Circus Trip in 1996, in a game against the Golden State Warriors, Michael and Scottie would execute a fancy little move. With the Warriors on the break, Jud Buechler would strip the ball away, give it Jordan only to have it tapped out of his hands directly to Scottie. Pip would then give it back to Michael at the free throw line, who in return faked a pass to Pippen, but would ultimately give it Scottie for the flush over Bimbo Coles.

2:29 mark thru 2:37 mark:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOGRE_5SimY&feature=related

[girlygirl]

I think I get to start this thread since I started the one for the Heat game and the Bulls won. Right, mods? If so, please sticky this.

Anyway, this is a much bigger test for the Bulls than they faced Wednesday. The Warriors are 2nd in the NBA in scoring, at 108.5 PPG. They will run run run all night long -- they lead the NBA in fast break PPG (19.7), and Baron Davis and Monta Ellis are among the league leaders in individual fast break points scored. So the Bulls have to get back in transition.

The Warriors also love to shoot 3-pointers -- they attempt 27.8 3-point FG per game (yikes!) -- most in the NBA (just to give you a comparison, the Bulls attempt 15.9 3-point FG/game). So Chicago needs to stay on the perimeter shooters -- especially Stephen Jackson, Al Harrington and Matt Barnes.

Of course, Golden State is not a good defensive team. They give up 107.2 PPG and they get outrebounded by more than 5 per game. Interestingly, despite the fast-paced tempo, Golden State does NOT turn the ball over much -- just under 14 times per game. But they lack shot blockers (Biedrins averages 1.3 per game) and they give up a lot of points in the paint and on 2nd chance opportunities.

The Warriors are 1-7 when they score less than 100 points in a game this year, while the Bulls are winless when they allow 100 or more. So the Bulls need to try and slow this team down and bring defensive intensity from the jump.

So, to sum up:

Attack the basket on offense and hit the boards hard on both ends of the court

Get back in transition defense

DO NOT leave the perimeter shooters open


Last thing: even if Hinrich is back for this game, I want to see Thabo get lots of minutes. If Hinrich is healthy, start him and Thabo together in the backcourt. Bench Duhon, already!

[TOMSPY77]

Because of the D effort usually given by GS, this is a very winnable game. If they start the way they did against Orlando however, this could be another blow out loss.

[Rerisen]

Playing the Warriors for the Bulls is usually like seeing middle school aged kids trying to play the high school level dudes. They are just bigger, faster, and more flashy than us.

The way for the Bulls to beat this kind of team is to 'Utah' them or out execute, but I haven't seen that Bulls team in a long time.

[NLK]

Agreed gg! Boylan better stress to this group, as he did before the Miami game, to make it more up-tempo. We know GS will want to run, thats their only abilities at scoring. Transition D is a must. Boylan will need to go deep to the bench once again, and probably early to find matchup that'll favor the Bulls (i.e. Noah & Tyrus). I dont think this will be a good game to put Gray in, since all their "bigs" are athletic enough to get back on D and able to come over & help. But I do think he could help pass out of double teams to the open man. So who knows. Thabo will be needed too, I don't think Deng can guard some of their faster 2s & 3s. This game has got the chance to be really ugly in favor of GS or a good close win for either team.

[Tommy Udo 6]

Warriors blew the 4th quarter against Pacers & will take it out against us.

Since we seldom beat winning teams, I expect a loss here & on Saturday

[JackFinn]

I expect there to be cake.

[TB#1]

[DuckIII]

There's no way around it, the next 8 games are huge.

Golden State
Detroit
@ Memphis
Indiana
Charlotte
Phoenix
Minnesota
@ Minnesota

They really need to win 6 of them (5 at the absolute worst) and in order to do that they are going to need to win some against "better" teams. Golden State looks like a good place to start. 6 of 8 are home games too, with the road games coming against inferior teams.

As pleased as I am with Thabo, and as important as I can see him being against a guy like Stephen Jackson, I think its important to get Hinrich back for this one. We are going to need him on Baron Davis.

I sadly realize that the organizations idiocy might mean that Thabo doesn't play much if Hinrich returns because they'll most likely err on the side of playing Duhon, but I think Baron Davis will absolutely blister the Bulls if Hinrich isn't out there. And he's the engine that makes that team go.

This is a terrible game for Aaron Gray. It should be a good game for Ben Wallace to have in impact if he'll come out and get it done. It also should be a good game for Noah and Thomas with their length, speed, and athleticism.

This game should give Boylan an opportunity to prove he's not a complete moron in handling the rotations, because if we do it right, we should match up very well with Golden State and should be able to frustrate them.

I don't think I'm overstating it too much when I say that this is a very important basketball game. Losing it doesn't end the season. But winning it sure could do a lot to turning the season around.

[Magilla_Gorilla]

It should be a good game for Ben Wallace to have in impact if he'll come out and get it done. It also should be a good game for Noah and Thomas with their length, speed, and athleticism.

Definitely. This is the perfect game to throw them out there and let them run their ass off. We can go big with Ben, Noah, and Tyrus - and we should have no problem owning the boards and getting points in the paint (Althoug TT is not a 3 this is a great game to play him there). Noah should shine in a game where he can run around like a banshee grabbing boards, steals, assists, and blocks. Tyrus should get plenty of opportunities for put-backs and fast breaks - If TT can't sprint down the court in a game like this...

This game should give Boylan an opportunity to prove he's not a complete moron in handling the rotations, because if we do it right, we should match up very well with Golden State and should be able to frustrate them.

God I hope so - but at this point I'm not very confident.

I don't think I'm overstating it too much when I say that this is a very important basketball game. Losing it doesn't end the season. But winning it sure could do a lot to turning the season around.

Agree completely - a loss wouldn't kill us, but a win would feel pretty damn good.

[Dieselbound&Down]

Magilla - talking about TT, more often than not when he is on the floor I see him coast up the court or look to sit at the top of the key for ball rotation as opposed to seeing him fly down the middle of the lane looking for a dunk or short hoop. His mentality is completely different than last year and is somewhat hard to figure out. He has gone completely away from what used to work but, in doing so, has become just as productive, more consistent but much less explosive.

I hope some assistant pulls the tapes from his recent play and can point out the times he should be attacking the rim looking for a lob instead of floating to the perimeter. Merge his two styles and he'll really start to be productive.

As for the game, I agree that having Hinrich back would be a big boost if it keeps Duhon off the floor and if Hinrich does not get saddled with foul trouble. It would be interesting to see Thabo be the main guard getting the outlet passes regardless of who is on the floor with him. I think Thabo pushes it more than Hinrich and can get into the defense better than Duhon. He is also a much better ballhandler and distributor than Gordon.

[Mr. Tibbs]

this is one game where our poor rotation defense is going to get absolutely exposed. Speakin of that...one thing that's been bugging me is when guys...noc does it alot..on a drive and kick rather than try and close out to the guy who receives the kickout pass, they try and take the charge which leaves the shooter wide open.

this pisses me off for 2 reasons, one because i swear they actually called those charges last season and those would be crucial plays. Two because now that they're not calling them..we still try to take those charges rather than adjust and start focusing more on closing out the shooter.

I guarantee you we will see this happen at least 3 times tomorrow.

[molepharmer]

Playing at home, it'll be interesting to see how the Bulls react after a game where their confidence should be high.

The defense has no excuses for coming up with a clunker. Everybody knows Golden State's game plan of run and 3s.

The boo birds will come out in full force if Chicago gets down big early.

[Dieselbound&Down]

The Bulls stink at 3 point defense. I see GS going on at least 3 10 point runs if the D doesn't come to play.

[Magilla_Gorilla]

The Bulls stink at 3 point defense. I see GS going on at least 3 10 point runs if the D doesn't come to play.

FWIW Chicago is awful at three point defense because they double everything in the post. I'd love to see us just man-up in this game.

[Red Larrivee]

Perimeter Defense

And I wonder who's going to guard B-Diddy most of the game if Hinrich doesn't play.

This is going to be a tough back-to-back. If we let Golden State tire us out, and this game goes into like OT like it did in Golden State last year, Detroits going to have a field day with us on Saturday. Close this game out, so you can be good for the Pistons. Attack at all costs on a weak defense.

[DuckIII]

Perimeter Defense

And I wonder who's going to guard B-Diddy most of the game if Hinrich doesn't play.

This is going to be a tough back-to-back. If we let Golden State tire us out, and this game goes into like OT like it did in Golden State last year, Detroits going to have a field day with us on Saturday. Close this game out, so you can be good for the Pistons. Attack at all costs on a weak defense.

Good point. But I'd note that Detoit will be on the second night of a back-to-back too for Saturday's game. They have Sacto Friday night. Not a run and gun team like the Warriors, but a game is a game.

[molepharmer]

Perimeter Defense

And I wonder who's going to guard B-Diddy most of the game if Hinrich doesn't play.

This is going to be a tough back-to-back. If we let Golden State tire us out, and this game goes into like OT like it did in Golden State last year, Detroits going to have a field day with us on Saturday. Close this game out, so you can be good for the Pistons. Attack at all costs on a weak defense.

As long as the Bulls win, I'd just as soon it go into double overtime so Ben W has to play 45+ min, Du 35+ min, Joe Smith 38+ min, etc.; basically leaving Boylan liittle choice but to go youthful against Detroit.

[Bluewaterheaven]

I expect there to be cake.

There is no cake

This was a triumph!
I'm making a note here:
"HUGE SUCCESS!!"

It's hard to overstate
my satisfaction.

Aperture Science:
We do what we must
because we can.

For the good of all of us.
Except the ones who are dead.

But there's no sense crying
over every mistake.
You just keep on trying
till you run out of cake.
And the science gets done.
And you make a neat gun
for the people who are
still alive.

I'm not even angry...
I'm being so sincere right now-
Even though you broke my heart,
and killed me.

And tore me to pieces.
And threw every piece into a fire.
As they burned it hurt because
I was so happy for you!

Now, these points of data
make a beautiful line.
And we're out of beta.
We're releasing on time!
So I'm GLaD I got burned-
Think of all the things we learned-
for the people who are
still alive.

Go ahead and leave me...
I think I'd prefer to stay inside...
Maybe you'll find someone else
to help you?
Maybe Black Mesa?
That was a joke! HAHA!! FAT CHANCE!!

Anyway this cake is great!
It's so delicious and moist!

Look at me: still talking
when there's science to do!
When I look out there,
it makes me GLaD I'm not you.

I've experiments to run.
There is research to be done.
On the people who are
still alive.
And believe me I am
still alive.
I'm doing science and I'm
still alive.
I feel fantastic and I'm
still alive.
While you're dying I'll be
still alive.
And when you're dead I will be
still alive.

Still alive.

Still alive.

[SportsWorld]

Anyone know why ESPN scheduled an 8:30 game in Chicago?